The stimulus package passed by the U.S. House last week included $2 billion to accelerate projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This troubles some observers in the Great Lakes area who say the corps has a reputation for environmental misdeeds and that one of its biggest pending projects in the region — a third Soo lock — is unnecessary.

The Army Corps dredges waterways to support the movement of commodities and carries out other activities for congressionally authorized water resource projects.

In Michigan, two locks along the Upper Peninsula border town of Sault St. Marie link Lake Superior to the lower lakes and are maintained by the corps. Each year thousands of ships pass through the locks, mostly carrying iron ore and coal. For 13 years the corps has been working on plans to construct a third lock at Sault Ste. Marie, and in 2007 Congress approved the project as part of the 2007 Water Resources Development Act.

Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, who represents the Upper Peninsula district that includes Sault Ste. Marie, is lobbying hard for the project, which is expected to cost $475 million.

“No project meets the definition of ‘shovel ready’ more than the replacement Soo Lock,” Stupak wrote in a December letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, adding that the Army Corps has indicated that it could accelerate its construction schedule.

“Providing full funding would make this the largest public works navigation project on the Great Lakes in a generation, creating nearly half a billion dollars per year in economic activity in the region,“ Stupak wrote. “This project would also have national economic impact for workers, and manufacturers, as construction will include expenditures for raw materials, machinery, electronics and engineering. In addition, nearly 80 percent of the nation’s steelmaking capacity, an industry that supports an estimated 400,000 jobs depends on reliable transit through the Soo Locks.”

But Great Lakes United, a binational Great Lakes protection group, said building a new lock would be a waste of money because there are already two functioning locks at the Soo and building a third would do nothing to help the shipping industry cope with the challenges of climate change, which the group maintains is a more pressing need.

“This is an antiquated project that doesn’t take shipping industry into the future. This is not a necessary project. It is extra,” said Jennifer Nalbone, an organizer with the group. “The justification that industry is making is that the Poe lock [which accommodates 1,000-foot-long vessels] could fail, but the entire navigation system lacks redundancy. If industry wants to enhance reliability, up maintenance. We are in favor of maintenance.”

Nalbone called the corps project “a sleeper” — a long-ago-authorized project that was never prioritized by Congress till now.

“It’s painful to think that this is the best example of proactive planning, there are so many problems the industry is going to be facing in next 10-20 years with climate change. It’s sad that this is the best they have to offer.”

Corps Reform Network, an alliance of environmental groups with a mission to improve corps projects, called plans to spend $475 million to build a third Soo Lock “the textbook definition of an unjustified project.”

The group has included the project on its list of Army Corps projects that should not be funded.

Dredging Saginaw River could spread dioxin

In mid-Michigan the environmental group the Lone Tree Council is troubled by news that the Army Corps may accelerate dredging, particularly of dioxin-contaminated soils in the Saginaw River.

“The corps has become notorious for lack of environmental consciousness,” said Terry Miller of Lone Tree Council. “It is our hope that these [dredging] projects will be examined a little closer before they proceed.”

Last year, despite protests by environmental groups and the state Department of Environmental Quality, the Army Corps was given the go-ahead to deposit dioxin-contaminated sediments from the Saginaw River in an unlined pit in Saginaw County.

The corps argued that the dredging was needed to support industry along the Saginaw River. The project has been delayed, but Army Corps spokeswoman Lynn Duerod told Michigan Messenger that it is expected to resume in the spring.

Miller said that before the corps begins dumping sediments in Saginaw County, more test wells should be established so that it is possible to monitor whether toxins are moving out of the dump.

He also said he wants sampling done at homes around the landfill.

“We would like to see what is already in people’s yards so if is does leak, we have some background.”

A list of some of the planned Michigan Army Corps projects can be viewed on the Web site for the Detroit district.